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Gotts Surname Family History
131 - Henry Gotts Plasterer from Germany
This tree starts with a family of Gottses in East Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, in the June 1870 census.
We have two families living next door to each other in East Cleveland, Ohio:
- John 4939 Gotts 25, stonemason, born 1845 Germany
- Mary 4938 Gotts 24, keeping house, born 1846 Ohio (ie his wife, married Cuyahoga May 1870)
- Isaac Hobbs 28 born Canada
- Augusta Hobbs 28 born Germany 1842 keeping house (a sister of John, married in 1868)
Next door are:
- John 4936 Gotts 56, labourer b 1814 Germany both parents not b USA
- Henry 4919 Gotts 23, plasterer b 1847 Germany both parents not b USA
This suggests we have John Gotts senior living with Henry his son, and his son John and Mary his wife, his daughter Augusta and her husband next door.
This Ancestry family tree by Bob Clarke documents descendants from Isaac and Augusta, and shows links to other vital records. You may need a free account to see this. Key points include:
- John senior’s wife Elizabeth (Fischer), who died in 1866 in East Cleveland, according to Findagrave
- 1860 census as John Getts in the same place, with Henry shown as Henry C, also a daughter Dora b 1838, son Frederick George 4947 aged 11 b 1849 and daughter Mary b 1852, all in Germany.
Neither of us can find any immigration record which fits, but there are passenger lists with Gotz names at various times, though none quite fit! In the 1900 & 1910 censuses for Augusta she states she arrived c 1849/50 and Elizabeth’s (1866, which does not stack up with her residence in East Cleveland in 1860). A later document about Henry says he arrived in 1844.
Dora married in 1858 to John Schaefer. In 1900 census it states she has lived in US for 56 years, ie since 1844.
It would make sense for the father John to come and look for work, and possibly bring Dora with him, or found her work if she arrived in 1855. As he became more secure and could support his family he would bring the rest of the family over.
This family is a good example of how names changed in new countries.
In Germany, the surname would be Goetz or Gotz with an umlaut on the ‘o’, but at entry and other government activities such as birth, marriage, death or census the name could be changed to how the official though it was spelled, especially if the immigrants did not have the knowledge or any written documents showing the original spelling. We also see it as Gates.